From the October 24, 2002 edition of The Wayne Herald
Father, daughters run in marathon
Calling it "a once in a lifetime" opportunity, a Wayne man ran with two of his daughters in the Chicago Marathon last Sunday.
Initially, Todd Barry, who is a director of athletics at Wayne State College, was going to keep it a secret from daughters Danielle and Kristi that he was going to run the marathon.
But after some thought, he decided to tell them he was running so he could share training tips with them.
For Barry, this was his second marathon. His first, though , was nine years ago in the Twin Cities.
Barry then asked himself- should a 51-year-old man run 26.2 miles in a marathon?
"I have run in five kilometer races here and there, but a marathon is something different," Barry said.
He met with WSC Cross Country Coach Marlon Brink, who has run in several marathons, who "made sure I was fit to run."
The Chicago Marathon had a full field of 37,500 runners with an estimated one million fans watching and cheering the runners.
This was the first marathon for Kristi, who is 21.
"During the week, I would run three days, anywhere from 3-10 miles," Barry said. "On the weekends, I had my long runs, starting out with a long run of seven miles and working up to the longest of 20."
For Danielle (Barry) Pfeister, this was the fifth marathon for the 25-year-old.
Danielle's time of three hours and 31 minutes qualified her for another run at the Boston Marathon in April.
Barry's time was four hours and 20 minutes, placing 727th in his division.
When asked if he would want to run again with his daughters, Barry thought about it and said, "It would be pretty hard to say no."
